Robert Conrad couldn't escape his tough guy image — but he could dodge police!

In 1971, Florida men claimed the classic TV star, known for daring stunts, assaulted them with a shoe.

Classic TV actor Robert Conrad became known as a tough guy over the course of series like The Wild Wild West, where he'd famously perform his own stunts with even more enthusiasm than the wildest stuntmen.

This led the actor to develop a reputation as an intense dude not to be messed with, which followed him off-camera.

In 1971, he was preparing to return to TV as the star of a new Jack Webb show called The D.A. To promote his new show, he appeared on Adam-12 in two crossover episodes, the first being "The Radical."

In "The Radical," Adam-12 fans were struck by Conrad's new character, pictured above, all suited up as the district attorney Paul Ryan. They were more used to seeing him throw punches literally, and not proverbially in court. But Conrad insisted this role fit him just as well as any of his prior roles.

"I feel like a lawyer when I suit up and I feel very capable," Conrad told The Daily Courier in 1971.

As an actor, Conrad couldn't stand watching any actor play a part he knew he could do better, and it kept him returning to acting. "My ego prevents me from not coming back," Conrad admitted.

Because he put so much of himself into every role, he considered four years the optimal run for a TV show. He hoped The D.A. would make it that far.

"We'll have a big hit," he predicted, pointing out that like Webb's other series, The D.A. is based on actual criminal cases that provide more shock and interest for audiences than invented plots. (Harry Morgan also co-starred!)

Unfortunately, Conrad's prediction was off. The D.A. lasted just a single season. And it could be in part because Conrad said everywhere he went, people expected him to play the tough guy, even in the real world.

In 1974, he told The Miami News that "wise guys" constantly assaulted him in public, pushing the TV star to prove that he's just as big a tough guy as the TV characters he plays.

That year, a fight broke out, where some men in Fort Lauderdale claimed that Conrad slammed one of them in the head with his shoe. Conrad denied it happened, but he left the scene before police arrived.

"I don't knock anyone in the head with a shoe," Conrad said. "I'm a martial artist. I know much better ways if that was what I wanted to."

Conrad couldn't talk much about the fight because there was ongoing litigation, but he said that the commotion started when the men blocked Conrad's path with their car and started shouting obscenities at the celebrity.

For Conrad, this was a typical encounter at first. "The verbal abuse is just something I've had to learn to live with," he said.

But when it escalated, he knew he had to get out of there.

"I have a friend who is a famous bandit," Conrad defended himself against the battery claim. "He told me when this came down, he was shocked. He knew I wasn't violent."

Conrad had learned long ago how to deflect such aggression. Growing up, Conrad played football, but he also sang in the choir, and he said this led to plenty of bullying from his football teammates.

"Every time one of the ends or backs kidded me because I sang in the choir, I hit them a little harder in practice," Conrad said. "I was the toughest singing linebacker they ever ran into."

At this time as a young man, Conrad said this reputation for toughness led him to hang with a crowd in Chicago who saw police like Adam-12 officers as adversaries. He was "born on the wrong side of the tracks on Chicago's tough South Side," a journalist wrote. He loaded and drove trucks as a teenager. 

That's why he found it a little ironic when he got cast as The D.A. He'd come a long way from being that singing linebacker street-tough those Fort Lauderdale men still saw him as.

It makes sense then that for Conrad, the best getaway was somewhere no one could reach him — neither his fans nor his agitators. Between films, he liked to escape to a 100-acre ranch he owned in Northwest California. There, he didn't have a TV, radio or phone. Only there he found peace, far away from fistfights, fictitious or real.

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23 Comments

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AnnieM 40 months ago
He had to have loved that 'tough guy' image - why else would he do that Eveready commercial?
WGH AnnieM 36 months ago
Um. $$$$
barrier 40 months ago
Robby Conrad was always a favorite growing up. My mom had a huge crush on him. We were all big fans of Wild Wild West and just about anything else he was in.
Deleted 40 months ago
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Andybandit 40 months ago
Robert Conrad was a good actor
Especially in the episodes of Columbo that he was in.
BrianThetubewatcher 40 months ago
If you don’t want people acting childishly belligerent around you, don’t encourage them by acting childishly belligerent by placing a battery on your shoulder in a moronic ad.
jh4306 40 months ago
a guy with a shoe????.... the police were lookin' for the WRONG actor!!!! they must have been lookin' for don adams....er sorry about that....lol
Peter_Falk_Fan jh4306 40 months ago
Don Adams would have missed the guy's head "by that much".
Moody 40 months ago
My brother and I were big fans of Wild, Wild West. After every episode we would have mock fights like those in the show in our living room or family room until mom made us stop. We always had a blast though. I liked him in Baa, Baa Black Sheep also.
denny 40 months ago
Gabe Kaplan was a faster runner than Robert Conrad. I liked Robert but he always came across as a jerk.
denny 40 months ago
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denny stephaniestavr5 40 months ago
Yep, I remember watching it when it first aired. I've since seen it on YouTube years ago as well.
Deleted 40 months ago
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daDoctah 40 months ago
Carson only got one pie in the face doing the Energizer spoof. But about half the commercials he parodied in that segment ended with him sporting a Marie Callender facial treatment. And the final commercial, spoofing an actor now forgotten who timidly asked the viewer if they minded if he said a few words about... "diarrhea". *That* was the one where he got a barrage of about a dozen custard cremes.
40 months ago
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AnnieM 40 months ago
I miss Johnny Carson SO much. It's great that PlutoTV has an entire channel dedicated to him.
WGH 36 months ago
I never thought Johnny Carson was funny. Couldn't stand that smirk of his or that stupid golf swing.

Just my opinion.
BrittReid 40 months ago
Always liked The Wild Wild West!
country46 BrittReid 38 months ago
i liked it as well
KMT6600 40 months ago
I miss the "WILD Wild West" with him & the other guy. It was fun with the train they rode on to the next fun stop
KMT6600 40 months ago
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stephaniestavr5 40 months ago
This comment has been removed.
Ross Martin died of a heart attack while playing tennis with Conrad.
BrianThetubewatcher 40 months ago
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denny BrianThetubewatcher 40 months ago
I didn't know that.
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